High Speed 2 Railway Line

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the oral contribution of the right hon. Member for Putney of 10 January 2012, Official Report, column 41, on High Speed 2, what progress his Department has made on developing plans for wildlife corridors and biodiversity offsets in the area surrounding the route of High Speed 2.

Simon Burns: The Government is determined to ensure that HS2 is an environmentally responsible project. Both I and HS2 Ltd meet regularly with environmental groups to discuss the environmental opportunities that HS2 could offer, including the concept of a "green corridor" and biodiversity offsetting.
	HS2 Ltd is also carrying out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the route. The data collected, together with feedback from community and environmental groups, will allow us to firmly identify suitable environmental opportunities. Options include new tree planting, wildlife habitat creation and landscaping that would help to protect the natural beauty of our countryside.
	We will consult on the initial findings from the EIA as well as the latest refinements to the construction of the route in spring 2013.

Grants

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what grant giving programmes are operated by (a) his Department and (b) the bodies for which he is responsible; and which such programmes award grants in Scotland.

Mark Hoban: The grant giving programmes currently operated by the Department for Work and Pensions are:
	New Enterprise Allowance scheme where DWP has awarded grant funding to the organisations that provide the mentoring element of this scheme;
	Work Clubs and Enterprise Clubs, part of Get Britain Working, which receive grant funding to cover their initial start up costs;
	The Social Fund, where the following grants are available: Community care grants, sure start maternity grants, funeral payments, cold weather payments and winter fuel payments;
	Access to work grants which are available to people who are employed, self employed or unemployed and about to start a job or work scheme and who have a disability or health condition;
	Jobcentre Plus has also awarded grants under the Flexible Support Fund to assist claimant's progress towards and secure sustainable employment.
	All of the above operate in Scotland.
	The European Social Fund (ESF) is a grant based programme in part. The Department for Work and Pensions has responsibility for the operation of the ESF programme in England and Gibraltar.
	The Independent Living Fund provides direct payments to users who can then use it to cover costs for a defined list of qualifying support services. These payments are available to people across the UK.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the calculation of universal credit of the recent announcement by HM Revenue and Customs of the relaxation of the on or before requirement for PAYE real time information submissions.

Mark Hoban: HMRC have made these changes in response to feedback from employers and to avoid imposing a disproportionate administrative burden on those who for business reasons pay their employees at times when an immediate report of earnings data would be very difficult. HMRC expect the relaxation to apply to only a small number of employers. DWP therefore expects the number of universal credit claimants affected to be small and will put in place processes to manage them.

Work Programme: Scotland

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions his Department has held with the Scottish Government in the last two months on the training needs of people participating in the Work Programme.

Mark Hoban: There have been no discussions with the Scottish Government in the last two months on the training needs of people participating in the Work programme.
	Officials from the Department continue to work with officials from the Scottish Government on ways to reduce unemployment.

Land: Auctions

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether it is his policy that local authorities which are planning authorities should be able to undertake both the land disposal and the land acquisition elements of community land auctions; and if he will make a statement.

Nicholas Boles: The Government is committed to piloting and considering the wider use of Land Auctions. In order for Land Auctions to work, a local authority would need to be able to both acquire, or take an option on, land and also dispose of that land or option. The purpose of the pilot is to gain an understanding of how the land disposal elements of the model would work in practice.
	Local authorities already have powers to acquire land for planning purposes and dispose of it.

Land: Public Sector

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many of the sites owned by the public sector and identified by Government Departments in their local land disposal plans have been sold to date; what the sale value was in each such case; and to whom such sales were made.

Mark Prisk: To free up more surplus land for new housing, the Government is committed to releasing formerly used land, owned by central Government, capable of delivering up to 100,000 homes by April 2015. We have identified surplus land for 100,000 homes and, to date, we have already sold land to support the building of an estimated 33,000 new homes.
	Details on the sale price and buyers of individual sites are held by the respective public bodies which previously owned the land.
	The Homes and Communities Agency is working with Departments to accelerate disposal of surplus public land. This work includes making the land ready for market, developing proposals for a single ‘shop window’ to help with marketing, and encouraging the use of the innovative ‘Build Now, Pay Later’ model.
	The Government is committed to ensuring the swift release of public sector land to allow for the building of new homes. A programme of work is under way and the Government will provide an update on progress at the autumn statement.

Planning Permission: Appeals

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which planning authorities in England in each of the last five years have had (a) fewer than five per cent, (b) five to 10 per cent, (c) 11 to 15 per cent and (d) 16 to 20 per cent of major decisions overturned on appeal as a proportion of all major decisions made; and if he will give the specific percentage in each case.

Nicholas Boles: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 25 October 2012, Official Report, column 996W.
	My Department's consultation paper, ‘Planning performance and the planning Guarantee’ (page 12) proposes that my Department will seek to publish quarterly statistics on the extent to which decisions on applications for major development are overturned at appeal.

Planning Permission: Appeals

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which planning authorities in England over the last two years for which information is available have had (a) more than 20 per cent of major decisions overturned on appeal as a proportion of all major decisions made and (b) less than 30 per cent of major applications decided within 13 weeks as a proportion of all major decisions.

Nicholas Boles: Information on which local authorities have had more than 20% of major decisions overturned on appeal is not centrally available—I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 25 October 2012, Official Report, column 996W.
	My Department's consultation paper, ‘Planning performance and the planning guarantee’ (page 12) proposes that my Department will seek to publish quarterly statistics on the extent to which decisions on applications for major development are overturned at appeal.
	The authorities who have made less than 30% of major decisions in 13 weeks in the last two years (2010-11 and 2011-12) are shown in the following table(1).
	(1) Excludes 'county matters' and national park authorities.
	
		
			 Authority Percentage major decisions in 13 weeks 
			 Haringey 16.7 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 24.4 
			 Torbay 25.5 
			 Hounslow 26.5 
			 Barking and Dagenham 27.3 
			 Cambridge 28.4 
			 Fylde 29.8 
		
	
	As we state in the 'planning performance and the planning guarantee' consultation paper, we believe it is right to designate where there is clear evidence that particular planning authorities are performing very poorly, as consistent, unreasonable delays are against the interests of applicants and local residents. Planning is a quasi-judicial process: justice delayed is justice denied.
	As I indicated during the Public Bill Committee considering Clause 1 of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, we expect to have to use this power to designate planning authorities very sparingly, and this table illustrates that. The Government remains committed to decentralising power and responsibility wherever possible, and this measure will not affect the great majority of authorities that already provide an effective planning service, other than to act as a reminder of the importance of timely and well considered decisions.

Urban Areas: Barnsley

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effect of Town Team Partnership funding on Barnsley Central constituency.

Mark Prisk: Funding was paid on 1 November 2012 as a grant under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003. The local authority is the accountable body for the funding which is un-ringfenced grant. The funding is part of a much wider package of support that is designed to help Town Teams strengthen their leadership on the ground and enable them to try new ideas. It is entirely for the Town Team to determine how funding is spent; Government has no plans to micro-manage how local people make those decisions, although we will be looking to learn from their experiences.

AWE

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many representatives of the (a) French, (b) Russian and (c) Chinese governments visited the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Berkshire, in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Philip Dunne: There were no visits to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) by Russian or Chinese government representatives in 2010 or 2011.
	Two individuals from the French Ministry of Defence visited in 2010. There is one French individual currently on secondment at AWE from the ‘Commissariat à l'énergie atomique’ (CEA), which is a French Government-funded technological research organisation.
	There are also numerous visits each year by appropriately security-cleared French nationals, who are predominantly CEA employees or contractors. The number of these visits is not routinely collated.

Written Questions

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the (a) shortest and (b) longest time taken by his Department to answer a written parliamentary question was in (i) 2012 to date, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2010.

David Mundell: This information is not available in the form requested. To facilitate a manual search of PQ records would incur disproportionate cost.
	The Government has committed to providing the Procedure Committee with information relating to written parliamentary question performance on a sessional basis and will provide full information to the Committee at the end of the current Session. Statistics relating to performance for the 2010-12 parliamentary Session are available on the Parliament website as follows:
	http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/procedure/P35_Memorandum_Leader_of_the_House_ Monitoring_PQs.pdf

Belarus

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will discuss with the Home Secretary the establishment of a review of current (a) visa entry requirements, (b) restrictions and (c) costs levied on Belarusian nationals wishing to travel to the UK for the purpose of work or tourism.

David Lidington: The Government has no current plans to change visa entry requirements for Belarusian nationals wishing to travel to the UK for the purpose of work or tourism. Visa fees are the same for all nationalities. They are subject to annual review.

Middle East

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance he has (a) given and (b) plans to give to the government of Israel to help fight terrorism; what recent meetings he has had with the government of Israel on fighting terrorism; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Alistair Burt: We have a regular dialogue with Israel on the issue of terrorism. This issue was recently discussed at the Israel-UK Strategic Dialogue on 1 November.
	We have also discussed this issue with Israel in the context of the recent violence in Gaza and southern Israel. We have been clear that we condemn indiscriminate rocket fire into southern Israel, as we do all acts of terrorism.
	The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), issued a statement on 21 November expressing UK concern at reports of a bomb attack on a bus in Tel Aviv, which seriously injured a number of people. The Foreign Secretary made clear that terrorists must not be allowed to set the agenda.

Middle East

Dave Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to promote compliance with international law in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Alistair Burt: We urge all parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law.
	It is important that Israel fulfils its obligations under international law. We have consistently condemned Israel's announcements to accelerate settlement building in Israel to reverse these.
	We have also repeatedly made clear to the Israelis our serious concern at the 40% increase last year, as recorded by the UN, in demolitions of Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Our ambassador in Tel Aviv raised this issue with the Israeli Co-ordinator of Government Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories on 9 October. We view such demolitions and evictions as causing unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians; as harmful to the peace process; and, in all but the most limited circumstances, as contrary to international humanitarian law.
	More generally, we continue to have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories which we raise regularly with the Israeli authorities. More details can be found at:
	http://fcohrdreport.readandcomment.com/human-rights-n-countries-of-concern/israel-and-the-opts/

Middle East

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the Israel-Gaza conflict and the ceasefire.

Alistair Burt: The British Government is gravely concerned by the recent violence in Gaza and southern Israel and deeply regrets the loss of civilian life. We consistently called on those involved to avoid any action which risked civilian casualties.
	We welcome the agreement reached on 21 November to end hostilities. We have urged all sides to uphold their commitments, and paid tribute to President Mursi and the Egyptian Government for their intensive efforts and the leadership they have shown, as well as to Secretary of State Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for the role they have played.
	This ceasefire is an important step towards a lasting peace. The priority now must be to build on the ceasefire and to address the underlying causes of the conflict, including more open access to and from Gaza for trade as well as humanitarian assistance, and an end to the smuggling of weapons. Above all, the loss of life over the past week has shown the urgent need for a return to negotiations on a two state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The UK will work urgently with the United States, the EU, our other international partners and with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, calling for a new initiative to restart the peace process before the window for a two state solution closes.

Middle East

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has considered imposing trade sanctions with Israel following the recent conflict.

Alistair Burt: We welcome the agreement reached on 21 November to end hostilities. We have urged all sides to uphold their commitments, and paid tribute to President Mursi and the Egyptian Government for their intensive efforts and the leadership they have shown, as well as to Secretary of State Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for the role they have played.
	This ceasefire is an important step towards a lasting peace. The priority now must be to build on the ceasefire and to address the underlying causes of the conflict, including more open access to and from Gaza for trade as well as humanitarian assistance, and an end to the smuggling of weapons. Above all, the loss of life over the past week has shown the urgent need for a return to negotiations on a two state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The UK will work urgently with the United States, the European Union, our other international partners and with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, calling for a new initiative to restart the peace process before the window for a two state solution closes.
	The British Government have made its position on boycotts and sanctions clear. We do not believe that imposing sanctions on Israel or supporting anti-Israeli boycotts would be productive. However, we will continue to make our views on the full range of issues absolutely clear to Israel. This included stressing the need to de-escalate following recent events in Gaza.

Brain: Tumours

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many people died from a brain tumour in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England in 2011-12; and what steps he is taking to reduce the mortality rate;
	(2)  how many people aged under 18 died from a brain tumour in (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011 and (d) 2012 to date.

Anna Soubry: Information concerning the number of people in England under the age of 18 who died from a brain tumour in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the number of people who died of a brain tumour in Barnsley Central constituency, South Yorkshire and England in 2011 has been placed in the following tables. Data for 2012 is not yet available.
	
		
			  Deaths from brain tumours in people under 18 
			 2009 67 
			 2010 84 
			 2011 78 
		
	
	
		
			 Geographical area Deaths from brain tumours in 2011 
			 England 3,235 
			 South Yorkshire 81 
			 Barnsley Central Constituency 4 
		
	
	We are committed to reducing mortality rates for all cancers, including brain cancer. ‘Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer’, published on 12 January 2011, set out an ambition to save an additional 5,000 lives every year by 2014-15 through earlier diagnosis of cancer and improved access to treatment, particularly radiotherapy.
	To support earlier diagnosis of cancer we have committed an additional £450 million in the four years up to 2014-15. This money is being used to raise awareness of the symptoms of cancer; fund increased general practitioner (GP) access to diagnostic tests; and pay for more testing and treatment in secondary care. One of the tests we are increasing access to is magnetic resonance imaging to support the diagnosis of brain cancer, and we have now published best practice referral guidelines for general practitioners on how to access this test.
	Between January and March 2013, we are providing just under £850,000 in funding to pilot a general symptoms awareness campaign that will be relevant to a range of cancers, including brain cancer. The campaign will aim to encourage people with the relevant symptoms to visit their GP.
	We are also supporting the national health service to tackle variation in access to treatment by providing benchmarked data on survival and treatment locally and we are supporting access to new and innovative cancer treatments. For example, in April 2012 we announced that £250 million of public capital had been set aside to be invested by the NHS in building Proton Beam (PBT) Therapy facilities at The Christie Hospital in Manchester and University College London Hospital, benefitting up to 1,500 patients a year. PBT offers a superior treatment to a small number of patients with complicated cancers, particularly those affecting the brain.

Health Education: Older People

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to promote healthy lifestyles for elderly people.

Norman Lamb: The Department has a strong emphasis on public health, and seeks to improve and protect the nation’s health while reducing health inequalities. In the 2010 White Paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People, the Government set out its priority to improve people’s health at all stages of the life-course—including in later life. The new responsibilities for local government on public health present an opportunity to address this challenge. Public health will be better integrated with those other factors that impact on the health and wellbeing of older people such as housing, leisure services, the voluntary sector, transport, community cohesion and of course social care services.
	From April 2013, Public Health England will provide expert evidence based advice alongside and with National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, supporting local authorities and the national health service in their efforts to improve public health. In their role providing intelligence and information on the health and well-being of local communities, they will produce health profiles for each local authority, providing data and information on the health and wellbeing of all people in local areas—including analysis of the health older people.
	In terms of specific steps the Department has taken to promote healthy lifestyles for older people, in July 2011, the chief medical officers for the four home countries published revised physical activity guidelines 'Start Active, Stay Active'. This document includes recommendations for physical activity across the life course, including specific recommendations for those aged 65 and over. This is the first time guidelines have been published for older people, encouraging a life course approach to physical activity.

Heart Diseases

Glyn Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence quality standard on atrial fibrillation to be published.

Norman Lamb: We have asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to develop a Quality Standard on atrial fibrillation as part of a library of approximately 180 NHS Quality Standards. NICE has not yet published a time scale for the development of this Quality Standard.
	The NHS Commissioning Board who will be responsible for the strategic direction of NHS Quality Standards from April 2013, have begun discussions with NICE to determine the most appropriate sequencing for NHS Quality Standards to assist the Board in improving patient outcomes across the five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework.

Legionnaires' Disease

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to prevent an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.

Anna Soubry: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) works with other agencies such as local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which has statutory responsibility for legionella control as described in the approved code of practice, ‘Legionnaire disease; The control of Legionella bacteria in water systems’, to develop guidance to manage any risks associated with specific waters systems:
	http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l8.htm
	AH clinical and laboratory reports of legionnaires' disease are statutorily notifiable to enable the HPA to take prompt action and to establish if there are clusters occurring. Any clusters are immediately referred to local health protection units for investigation. In this way potential outbreaks are identified at an early stage allowing the rapid implementation of control measures to prevent further cases.

Maternity Services: Worcestershire

Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of spending by the NHS was spent on maternity care in Worcestershire in 2011-12.

Daniel Poulter: The data requested is not yet available for 2011-12. In 2010-11, the proportion of total expenditure spent on Maternity and Reproductive Health by Worcestershire primary care trust was 3.71%.

Smoking: Young People

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to reduce smoking among young people in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England.

Anna Soubry: The Government takes seriously the need to reduce the take up of smoking by young people and to help those that do smoke to stop. The Government's comprehensive, evidence-based strategy to reduce tobacco use in England over the five years until 2015, in the context of the new public health system, is set out in ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England’ (published March 2011). A copy has already been placed in the Library
	One of three national ambitions in the Tobacco Control Plan, to be achieved by 2015, is focused on reducing smoking prevalence among young people. The Plan sets out a range of initiatives to achieve this ambition which apply at national level across England, including in South Yorkshire and Barnsley. For example, tobacco sales from vending machines stopped on 1 October 2011, so removing an easily accessible and often unsupervised, source of under-age sales of cigarettes. Since 6 April 2012, permanent, eye-catching, displays of tobacco products that evidence shows can promote smoking by young people, came to an end in supermarkets and other large stores, and will stop in all other shops in April 2015. Also, a number of national marketing campaigns have targeted behaviour around smoking, such as the effect on children of second hand smoke from smoking in homes and cars.
	In addition, the Government has recently carried out a consultation on standardised packaging of tobacco products (from 16 April until 10 August), which attracted many thousands of replies. We want to understand whether policy action on tobacco packaging has the potential to bring additional public health benefits, over and above those expected to accrue from existing tobacco control initiatives. Any decisions to take further policy action on tobacco packaging will be taken only after full consideration is given to all the consultation responses, evidence and other information.
	The Tobacco Control Plan for England also promotes and encourages local areas to adopt similarly comprehensive local strategies. The new approach to public health delivery in England means that local areas will decide their own priorities and ways of improving health in their communities, according to local circumstances and evidence, and supported by dedicated ring-fenced funding. The Department does not hold centrally, detailed information about the tobacco control initiatives pursued by each local area. However, information about the smoking behaviour of children aged 11 to 15 is available by region in England for the year 2010-11 and the years 2006 to 2008 combined. Copies of ‘Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England’ have already been placed in the Library.
	‘Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England’, findings by region 2006 to 2008 has been placed in the Library.

Lord Lieutenants

Kevan Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Lord Lieutenant of County Durham has taken to promote awareness of the honours system in that county.

Chloe Smith: The activities of lord lieutenants are not the responsibility of central Government. It is a matter for each lord lieutenant to promote honours as they see fit for their lieutenancy and to conduct public engagements appropriate to their role and relevant to their country.

Lord Lieutenants

Kevan Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  if he will publish a list of all of the clerks to the Lord-Lieutenants;
	(2)  which clerks to Lord-Lieutenants are not currently employed by the county, district or unitary council that the Lord-Lieutenant represents; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: The clerks to lord lieutenants are not the responsibility of central Government. Lord lieutenants and their local authorities are responsible for their clerks.

Bangladesh

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answers of 22 October 2012, Official Report, columns 726-8W, on Bangladesh, and 1 November 2012, Official Report, columns 601-2W, on Bangladesh, how many people she expects to receive support through the Economic Empowerment for the Poorest Programme.

Alan Duncan: The Economic Empowerment of the Poorest Programme (2008-15) aims to enable 1 million people to lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The programme supports extreme poor people to increase their incomes through acquiring assets such as livestock, establishing small businesses and giving access to skills training.

Broadband Delivery UK

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 24 October 2012, Official Report , column 905W, on broadband delivery UK, whether the methodology used to calculate headcount in each quarter is based on the number of leavers and joiners in the previous quarter.

Edward Vaizey: The Broadband Delivery UK headcount presented in the answer of 24 October 2012, Official Report, column 905W, was based upon the number of leavers and joiners for each quarter. However, the rows entitled leavers and joiners were reversed. There were also some errors in the figures for April-June and July-September 2012. The figures should have been presented as follows:
	
		
			 Year/Quarter 
			  2011 2012 
			  Pre-April April-June July-September October-December January-March April-June July-September 
			 Headcount 19 21 29 34 49 56 54 
			 Joiners — 5 13 7 24 14 15 
			 Leavers — 3 5 2 9 7 7

Internet: Data Protection

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of recent steps taken at EU level to investigate the way online search engines gather and use personal information.

Helen Grant: The Government has made no such assessment. However, it is worth drawing attention to the investigation by the Commission Nationale de I’informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) into Google's privacy policy on behalf of the Article 29 Working Party. The Article 29 Working Party is made up of a representative from the data protection authority of each EU member state, the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Commission. The representative for the UK is the Information Commissioner (currently the Vice Chair of the Working Party), the independent regulator of the Data Protection Act 1998. The CNIL has investigated and suggested a number of changes for Google to put in place within a strict timescale. The Information Commissioner will wait for the CNIL's assessment of those changes before considering any enforcement action.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Paul Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he last met the Agriculture Minister in the Welsh Government to discuss culling of badgers.

David Heath: Since he joined the Department on 4 September 2012, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), has had no meetings with the Agricultural Minister in the Welsh Government to discuss culling of badgers.

Flood Control

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Government plans to spend on managing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion in each year until 2015.

Richard Benyon: The Government plans to spend at least £2.17 billion on managing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion from April 2011 to March 2015. Budgeted expenditure for this and the following two years is as follows:
	
		
			 Budgeted expenditure by DEFRA in England 
			  £ million 
			 2012-13 554.6 
			 2013-14 542.1 
			 2014-15 529.6

National Wildlife Crime Unit

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to announce the future of the National Wildlife Crime Unit.

Richard Benyon: The Government takes the matter of wildlife crime very seriously and appreciates the contribution made by the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) in tackling these crimes. Decisions on NWCU funding beyond 2012-13 will be taken as soon as possible.

Alcoholic Drinks: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2012, Official Report, column 77W, on alcoholic drinks: prices, when he or Ministers of his Department last met Ministers in the Scottish Government to discuss minimum unit pricing for alcohol.

Sajid Javid: Treasury Ministers and official have discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. The cross-Government Alcohol Strategy was published in March 2012. This included a commitment to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol alongside other key measures to reduce the harm caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Government Departments continue to engage on these issues through the consultation on the Alcohol Strategy, which was launched on 28 November 2012. The Government continues to engage with the Scottish Government on the issue of minimum unit pricing.

Revenue and Customs

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 17 July 2012, Official Report, column 679W, on Revenue and Customs, what targets HM Revenue and Customs has set for the proportion of callers who will be able to access its helpline without having to wait to speak to an adviser.

David Gauke: HMRC do not have a target for the proportion of callers who will be able to access its helpline without having to wait to speak to an adviser. I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 17 July 2012, Official Report, column 679W. HMRC is planning to expand the automated solutions available for customers and expects that this will increase the proportion of callers able to access the information required from their helplines without having to wait to speak to an adviser.

Arms Trade: Israel

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the number of companies in the UK that manufacture weapons or components of weapons that are sold to the Israeli government.

Michael Fallon: The Government does not hold information on the number of companies in the UK that manufacture weapons or components of weapons that are sold to the Israeli Government. The best estimate we have is the number of companies granted licences to export such items for the ultimate end-use of the Israeli Government. In the last five years 11 companies have been granted export licences for weapons or components of weapons, including ammunition, specified in entries ML1, ML2, ML3 and ML4 of the UK Military List.

Insolvency

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations his Department has received on clarifying the law relating to administration expenses.

Jo Swinson: The Government is aware of stakeholders' concerns regarding administration expenses and of the importance of these provisions. We are following court cases on this issue closely. We continue to receive representations from stakeholders on this matter and welcome evidence on the effect of the issue in order to help us assess whether to make any changes.

Offshore Funds: Companies

Michael McCann: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects on UK businesses of companies who hold offshore accounts allowing only fortnightly transactions and withholding payments for sellers by up to three weeks.

Michael Fallon: The Government is aware that long payment terms and late payment can have a serious impact on the viability of small businesses and has been working with industry to assess the scale of the problem in the UK and drive culture change. We have not, as part of this broader work, made a discreet assessment of the payment practices of offshore companies.

Students: Finance

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to reduce delays in processing student finance applications; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Government is committed to ensuring that students and their families get a high quality student finance service. The Student Loans Company (SLC) is responsible for delivering the student finance service, including its relationship with customers and the quality of service delivered. I regularly meet the SLC's Chair and Chief Executive to review SLC's performance and discuss how BIS can support SLC's efforts to deliver a successful student finance service. Officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills work in close partnership with the SLC to review performance throughout the year and monitor the student support application processing cycle closely. SLC is committed to improving its performance and has implemented a range of measures to improve customer service—including better staff training, simpler web-based information, advice and guidance, and processing improvements.
	Official statistics published on 14 October(1) demonstrate that SLC has made good progress in processing applications for academic year (AY) 2012/13 and is on track to deliver a successful student finance application cycle.
	(1) Higher education student support applications to student finance, England in academic year 2012/13 (provisional) as at 14 October 2012
	http://www.slc.co.uk/media/507316/slcosp102012.pdf
	The figures show that SLC has processed the vast majority of the 1 million applications received. 93% of the cases prepared for a payment where a maintenance support element was due had already received a payment and a further 2% of payments were either in the banking system or term start dates had not yet been reached.

Employment Tribunals Service

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many employment tribunal cases have been brought against businesses in (a) Suffolk, (b) Bury St Edmunds constituency and (c) England and Wales in each of the last three years.

Helen Grant: The Ministry of Justice publishes, annually and quarterly, Official Statistics on tribunal workloads, including data on national receipts and disposals in the employment tribunals system.
	This published data on new claim receipts for employment tribunals are not broken down by geographical locations. However, it is possible to interrogate Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service's case management systems to produce management information on workloads by reference to, among other criteria, the postcodes of respondent employers in ‘live’ (or recently disposed of) employment tribunal proceedings.
	Save where an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal is lodged, case records (including electronic case management entries) are archived a year after the point of disposal. Once archived, statistical data are retained but anonymised. Therefore, it is no longer possible to retrieve data by reference to party details, including address details of the respondent employers involved. It is however possible to identify claims in England and Wales, and claims in Scotland.
	Using management information for the last complete and available reporting period (November 2011 to June 2012), 480 claims were accepted by the Employment Tribunal Office in Bury St Edmunds (the office covering the geographical area in question) where the respondent employer's address was listed in the county of Suffolk; and 98 claims were accepted by that office where the respondent employer's address was listed in the constituency of Bury St Edmunds. In relation to the jurisdiction of England and Wales, the information sought is set out in the following table. This information is held centrally and can be requested after records have been archived.
	
		
			 Receipts for England and Wales for the last three financial years 
			 Claims accepted 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 England and Wales 213,300 200,500 141,400 
		
	
	For the purposes of answering this question, we have assumed that the county is coterminous with postcode districts IP1 to IP33, CB8, CB10 and NR32 to NR35; and the constituency is coterminous with the postcode districts IP14 and IP30 to IP33.
	Management information for the remainder of the last available 12 month period (July, August and September 2012) cannot be released under Official Statistics protocols until data on 2012/13 Quarter 2 is published on 17 January 2013.

Fixed Penalties

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many penalty notices for disorder in relation to the sale of alcohol to a person under 18 years of age were issued in (a) England and Wales and (b) each police force area in each year since 2009; how many of those notices resulted in an unpaid fine in each area; and what the average fine levied was.

Jeremy Wright: The total number of penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) issued for the sale of alcohol to a person under 18 years of age, by outcome, in each police force area in England and Wales, for the period 2009 to 2011, can be viewed in the table.
	The recipient of a PND has 21 days either to pay the penalty or seek a court hearing. No admission of guilt is required and by paying the penalty the PND recipient discharges all liability for conviction for the offence. If no action is taken within the 21 day period, a fine of one and half times the penalty amount is registered against the recipient of the notice by the courts. The courts are responsible for enforcing fines arising from unpaid PNDs, in the same way as any other unpaid fine.
	We can provide information on the number of persons who have paid a PND in full within or outside the 21 day period, but are unable to collate information on the result of the other outcomes listed in the tables.
	
		
			 Number of penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) issued to all persons aged 16 and over for the offence "Sale of alcohol to a person aged under 18", by outcome, by police force area, in England and Wales, 2009 to 2011 (1, 2) 
			 2009 
			 Police force area Total number of penalty notices issued Paid in full within 21 days Paid in full outside 21 days Fine registered Court hearing requested PND cancelled Potential prosecution Outcome unknown 
			 Avon and Somerset 40 29 3 8 0 0 0 0 
			 Bedfordshire 29 26 0 3 0 0 0 0 
			 Cambridgeshire 15 14 0 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Cheshire 31 21 7 3 0 0 0 0 
			 Cleveland 44 29 8 7 0 0 0 0 
			 Cumbria 35 29 5 1 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Derbyshire 73 54 6 11 0 2 0 0 
			 Devon and Cornwall 93 75 6 11 0 0 1 0 
			 Dorset 34 25 5 4 0 0 0 0 
			 Durham 190 152 21 15 1 1 0 0 
			 Essex 67 43 18 6 0 0 0 0 
			 Gloucestershire 22 17 2 2 0 0 0 1 
			 Greater Manchester 98 67 13 17 0 0 1 0 
			 Hampshire 191 149 25 17 0 0 0 0 
			 Hertfordshire 14 12 1 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Humberside 78 57 12 9 0 0 0 0 
			 Kent 20 15 4 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Lancashire 199 129 42 24 1 2 0 1 
			 Leicestershire 125 112 0 13 0 0 0 0 
			 Lincolnshire 30 20 3 7 0 0 0 0 
			 Merseyside 100 70 14 15 0 0 1 0 
			 Metropolitan police 345 309 0 28 0 6 2 0 
			 Norfolk 17 12 1 3 0 0 1 0 
			 Northamptonshire 16 9 5 2 0 0 0 0 
			 Northumbria 38 24 8 5 0 1 0 0 
			 North Yorkshire 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Nottinghamshire 34 25 5 4 0 0 0 0 
			 South Yorkshire 244 175 31 36 0 0 2 0 
			 Staffordshire 31 22 8 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Suffolk 21 15 4 2 0 0 0 0 
			 Surrey 55 49 4 2 0 0 0 0 
			 Sussex 103 78 13 2 0 0 10 0 
			 Thames Valley 123 81 21 21 0 0 0 0 
			 Warwickshire 24 12 6 5 1 0 0 0 
			 West Mercia 25 17 5 1 0 0 2 0 
			 West Midlands 87 55 22 8 0 1 1 0 
			 West Yorkshire 139 96 25 4 0 2 12 0 
			 Wiltshire 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Dyfed Powys 21 19 1 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Gwent 19 12 2 5 0 0 0 0 
			 North Wales 67 49 9 9 0 0 0 0 
			 South Wales 58 40 8 10 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 3,002 2,250 374 324 3 15 34 2 
		
	
	
		
			 2010 
			 Police force area Total number of penalty notices issued Paid in full within 21 days Paid in full outside 21 days Fine registered Court hearing requested PND cancelled Potential prosecution Outcome unknown 
			 Avon and Somerset 49 36 8 4 0 1 0 0 
			 Bedfordshire 9 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 
			 Cambridgeshire 25 22 0 3 0 0 0 0 
			 Cheshire 25 20 0 5 0 0 0 0 
			 Cleveland 37 23 10 4 0 0 0 0 
			 Cumbria 15 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Derbyshire 61 44 13 4 0 0 0 0 
			 Devon and Cornwall 35 28 2 5 0 0 0 0 
			 Dorset 18 10 4 4 0 0 0 0 
			 Durham 137 98 30 5 1 3 0 0 
			 Essex 22 17 4 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Gloucestershire 10 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Greater Manchester 90 66 14 10 0 0 0 0 
			 Hampshire 92 78 6 7 0 1 0 0 
			 Hertfordshire 12 10 0 1 1 0 0 0 
			 Humberside 32 26 4 1 1 0 0 0 
			 Kent 18 14 1 0 0 0 3 0 
			 Lancashire 147 122 7 15 2 1 0 0 
			 Leicestershire 78 74 0 4 0 0 0 0 
			 Lincolnshire 6 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Merseyside 66 48 5 13 0 0 0 0 
			 Metropolitan police 234 206 0 23 0 2 1 2 
			 Norfolk 10 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Northamptonshire 35 18 13 4 0 0 0 0 
			 Northumbria 63 33 16 12 0 2 0 0 
			 North Yorkshire 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Nottinghamshire 43 26 8 3 0 6 0 0 
			 South Yorkshire 174 117 20 25 0 12 0 0 
			 Staffordshire 18 13 1 4 0 0 0 0 
			 Suffolk 19 14 2 3 0 0 0 0 
			 Surrey 34 28 5 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Sussex 37 31 3 2 0 0 1 0 
			 Thames Valley 70 58 7 5 0 0 0 0 
			 Warwickshire 6 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 
			 West Mercia 29 16 6 7 0 0 0 0 
			 West Midlands 63 50 11 2 0 0 0 0 
			 West Yorkshire 144 103 24 5 0 0 12 0 
			 Wiltshire 20 19 0 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Dyfed Powys 13 9 3 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Gwent 23 12 11 0 0 0 0 0 
			 North Wales 26 19 3 3 0 1 0 0 
			 South Wales 51 35 10 5 1 0 0 0 
			 Total 2,098 1,589 258 196 6 30 17 2 
		
	
	
		
			 2011 
			 Police force area Total number of penalty notices issued Paid in full within 21 days Paid in full outside 21 days Fine registered Court hearing requested PND cancelled Potential prosecution Outcome unknown 
			 Avon and Somerset 27 24 0 3 0 0 0 0 
			 Bedfordshire 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Cambridgeshire 10 8 0 2 0 0 0 0 
			 Cheshire 13 8 2 3 0 0 0 0 
			 Cleveland 30 16 6 8 0 0 0 0 
			 Cumbria 47 34 8 5 0 0 0 0 
			 Derbyshire 72 48 15 8 0 1 0 0 
			 Devon and Cornwall 7 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Dorset 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Durham 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Essex 22 10 7 4 0 0 0 1 
			 Gloucestershire 12 10 1 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Greater Manchester 61 43 9 9 0 0 0 0 
			 Hampshire 79 63 10 6 0 0 0 0 
			 Hertfordshire 13 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Humberside 63 42 9 11 0 1 0 0 
			 Kent 13 9 3 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Lancashire 99 76 8 14 0 1 0 0 
			 Leicestershire 45 41 0 3 0 0 0 1 
			 Lincolnshire 15 12 1 2 0 0 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Merseyside 44 34 7 3 0 0 0 0 
			 Metropolitan police 169 144 0 20 0 2 3 0 
			 Norfolk 12 9 1 1 0 1 0 0 
			 Northamptonshire 22 18 3 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Northumbria 29 19 7 3 0 0 0 0 
			 North Yorkshire 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Nottinghamshire 16 11 1 4 0 0 0 0 
			 South Yorkshire 137 73 21 20 0 21 0 2 
			 Staffordshire 29 26 2 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Suffolk 18 13 1 4 0 0 0 0 
			 Surrey 36 33 1 2 0 0 0 0 
			 Sussex 24 18 4 0 0 0 2 0 
			 Thames Valley 48 37 9 2 0 0 0 0 
			 Warwickshire 14 6 1 7 0 0 0 0 
			 West Mercia 20 13 2 5 0 0 0 0 
			 West Midlands 30 18 8 4 0 0 0 0 
			 West Yorkshire 127 85 25 0 0 2 15 0 
			 Wiltshire 8 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Dyfed Powys 17 10 4 1 1 0 1 0 
			 Gwent 22 11 6 5 0 0 0 0 
			 North Wales 29 17 7 5 0 0 0 0 
			 South Wales 51 40 5 6 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 1,546 1,119 196 175 1 29 22 4 
			 (1 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (2) Figures may not match previously published information following further validation of available data. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Legal Aid Scheme

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how much and what proportion of the legal aid budget was spent on immigration and asylum cases in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how much and what proportion of the legal aid budget was spent on non-UK citizens in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: Legal aid spending on immigration and asylum in each of the past five years 2007-08 to 2011-12 was as follows.
	
		
			  2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Legal aid spending on immigration and asylum matters (£ million) 86 87 90 80 60 
			 Total legal aid expenditure (£ million) 2,031 2,105 2,149 2,134 2,039 
			 Legal aid spending on immigration and asylum matters as a proportion of total legal aid expenditure (percentage) 4 4 4 4 3 
		
	
	Spending in immigration and asylum cases is on non UK citizens. Other categories of law are also available for non UK citizens, for example, legal aid in criminal matters and public law family matters. However, the nationality of the legal aid applicant is not criteria for granting legal aid in these matters and therefore it is not recorded by the Legal Services Commission.

Young Offenders: Body Searches

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many incidents of routine strip searching on admission have taken place in each public sector and private sector young offender institution for 15 to 17 year old boys in each month in the last three years;
	(2)  how many inadmissible items have been found during a routine strip search on admission in each public sector and private sector young offender institution for 15 to 17 year old boys in each month in the last three years.

Jeremy Wright: Data are not routinely collected on the number of full searches undertaken, or the number of inadmissible items found during a full search, in under-18 young offender institutions. Data were collected for public sector under-18 YOIs for the 12-month period from October 2011 as a short-term measure to assess the impact of introducing a new overall risk and intelligence led approach to full searching in under-18 YOIs. This included the number of full searches undertaken on reception which is presented in the following table. However, it did not include private sector under-18 YOIs or the circumstances during which the full search occurred when an inadmissible item was found, which could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by scrutinising individual records.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of full  searches on reception in under- 18 YOIs 
			  Cookham Wood Feltham Hindley Warren Hill Werrington Wetherby 
			 2011       
			 October 107 802 218 99 54 255 
			 November 30 752 201 163 33 282 
			 December 27 285 180 127 27 180 
			        
			 2012       
			 January 25 248 167 97 41 256 
			 February 42 197 176 120 26 243 
			 March 28 172 256 186 33 277 
			 April 37 125 152 132 42 197 
			 May 39 164 172 185 33 157 
			 June 22 85 153 184 30 209 
			 July 26 63 189 194 41 185 
			 August 46 273 173 247 31 157 
			 September 41 108 173 158 47 130